Estb approximately The CLub in 1960's Known for Recreation and sport in 1995 was taken over by the Young Guns of the Village to Lead the Soccer Village into the Battle SOCCER. The club has won around 20 District matches and 10 Runners Up till date. The Club has around 60 Active Members and all Soccer Players. The Club is one of the Top Team in Kodagu (Coorg); registerd Club for Karnataka State Football Association, inturn meber of All India Football Association

Thursday, 1 September 2011

A rare document from 1931 reveals the role played by freedom fighters from Kodagu

The ‘manapatra' saluted the 98 men and women who revolted against the British

The work on the Freedom Fighters' memorial at Gonicoppa started 12 years ago

Legacy:A picture of freedom fighters with Mallengada Chengappa (right) at the laying of the foundation stone for the Freedom Fighters' memorial in Gonicoppa on December 16, 1998.

Madikeri: A rare document from 1931 obtained by The Hindu here speaks volumes about people from Kodagu district who were in the forefront of the freedom struggle under the leadership of Mahatma Gandhi.

The people of Kodagu had issued a ‘manapatra' then, a letter of honour, commending and saluting the 98 brave men and women who revolted against the British, following the footsteps of the Father of the Nation. They had taken part in the satyagraha in 1930-31 and were incarcerated.

Pandyanda Belliappa, Kollimada Karumbaiah, Chekkera Monnaiah, Makki Krishnaiah, Mallengada Chengappa, Abdul Gafoor Khan, Ajjikuttira Chinnappa, Ponnimada Machaiah, Kalengada Chinnappa, K.M. Subraya, Puliyanda Subbaiah, V. R. Thammaiah, Bidarur Madaiah, Chokira Madappa, Poojari Muthappa, Pandikanda Madappa, H.R. Krishnaiah were some among the people honoured by the people of Kodagu in 1931. Puliyanda Subbaiah, who hailed from Maggula village, was a true Gandhian till his death. He wore Khadi and counselled patience whenever a rift arose among people. So was V.R. Thammaiah, another Gandhian, who also hailed from the village. Elders say that H.R. Krishnaiah even refused to apply for pension after Independence saying if the Government recognised his contribution, it should come to his doorstep and give him the pension papers.

Even women did not lag behind. Kotera Accavva, Balyatanda Muddavva, Mukkatira Bojamma, Machimanda Medakka, Appanderanda Kalamma also joined the freedom struggle. The manapatra given to them on March 11, 1931, stated that they had been imprisoned for preaching the message of Mahatma Gandhi and taking part in the satyagraha.

The manapatra further stated that the people of Kodagu would not be able to offer them (the freedom fighters) privileges such as ‘Jahagir', ‘Umbali' — both land grants for service rendered — or ‘Pinchani' (pension), but would carry forward the noble message of freedom struggle, support and abide by it.

A sentence read significantly that “Bharata mateya makallada Kodaginavaru drohigalalla, Bhartada veera putra putriyaru embudannu prapanchakke saridiri”. This meant “the people of Kodagu, who are the children of mother India, are not traitors. You have heralded a message to the world that you are valiant sons and daughters of India.” The people who were mentioned in the manapatra at the function presided by Biddanda Subbaiah, also had taken a pledge to follow the ideals propounded by Gandhiji such as ‘swadeshi' and liquor prohibition.

A section of people might feel that some people of Kodagu supported the British. But it cannot be forgotten that Guddemane Appaiah Gowda who had fought the British was hanged at the Fort here by the British on October 31, 1837, much before the Sepoy Mutiny took place.

Kodagina Gowramma had offered all her jewellery to Gandhiji when he had visited here soliciting peoples' support for continuing the freedom movement in the early 1930s.

It is an unfortunate irony that the Freedom Fighters' memorial, the work for which started at Gonicoppa 12 years ago and the Guddemane Appaiah Gowda memorial, of which works are now underway, are yet to be completed.

Squadron Leader Ajjamada Bopayya Devayya, son of Dr. Bopayya, was born on 24 December 1932, at Coorg, Mysore. He was commissioned as General Duties (Pilot) in the IAF on 6 December 1954. During the 1965 Indo-Pak War, No.1 Tigers Squadron, then based at Adampur AFB, was given the task of hitting Sargodha, the principle airbase of the Pakistan Air Force (PAF).

The Squadron's Commanding Officer, Wing Commander O.P. Taneja, decided to attack Sargodha on September 7th by leading a wave of four aircraft, to be followed by more aircraft at an interval of a 1000 yards each. However in the dark and because the pilots had to maintain radio silence for secrecy, one of the waves lost its way. Two more aircraft had developed engine trouble and came back. Sqn. Ldr. Devayya, the standby pilot, was asked to take-off. His squadron having no more aircraft left, borrowed one from the adjoining No.32 Squadron. He was too far behind to join up in time with the rest and was thus also the last one to turn back from Sargodha. The action was short and swift. As IAF Mysteres exited after a low strafing pass over Sargodha airbase, a lurking PAF F-104 Starfighter on combat air patrol latched on to their tail. The PAF pilot, Flt. Lt. Amjad Hussain, was looking for easy targets and the IAF Mysteres were short on fuel and endurance.

He found the first IAF Mystere, piloted by Squadron Leader Devayya, and fired a AIM-9 Sidewinder, the deadliest weapon in that air-war. But the Mystere surprised him with swift evasive action, sending the missile harmlessly into the ground. The PAF pilot closed in, gave the Mystere a burst from his six-barreled Vulcan cannon and climbed jauntily for more kills. Flt. Lt. Hussain knew the stodgy old Mystere had no chance against his nimble F-104. Little did Hussain realise that the IAF pilot he had shot, was neither down nor out, but pursuing him, nursing his wounded aircraft. The F-104 tried desperately to break free, but the Mystere pressed on and scored several hits with its 30mm gun. In the smoke-filled F-104 cockpit, a shaken Flight Lieutenant Hussain, struggled with controls but finally ejected.

Squadron Leader Devayya had waited too long for his Mystere's ejection seat to save his own life and perished on Pakistani soil. And there lay, buried with him, the tale of his supreme sacrifice. The action was over in less than two minutes, but it took 23 years to establish that it did, indeed, take place. What Squadron Leader Devayya achieved in the pre-dawn skies that morning is now considered one of the most remarkable events in the history of post-world war air combat. After the aircraft returned from the successful mission, for the headcount and debriefing, no one had missed Devayya. Wing Commander Taneja, was told that he must have gone to No.32 Squadron to return their aircraft and to change. But when more than 40 minutes had passed, he insisted on seeing Devayya. It was then in the confusion of its first major wartime engagement, that the IAF realised that he had not returned.

Then, there was no way of saying what had happened. Squadron Leader Devayya was listed missing and was then declared dead, as is customary, a year later. But evidence of what he had accomplished first came, ironically in 1979, from Pakistani sources. The PAF commissioned John Fricker, a British writer, to compile their story. Fricker wrote what was expected; a flattering, fawning account of the air-war which the PAF won flaps down. If there was anything that the IAF could take credit for, he said, it was the destruction of a PAF F-104 by an infinitely inferior IAF Mystere over Sargodha on the morning of September 7th. The moment Wing Commander Taneja, who retired as a Group Captain, saw Fricker's book, he informed the higher authorities and told them it had to be Squadron Leader Devayya. No other pilot had claimed to have air-to-air combat and only two pilots were lost that day, Squadron Leader Devayya in the morning and Flight Lieutenant Babul Guha in the evening. But no one moved until 1987, when the Defence Ministry's War Studies Division, busy compiling the official history of the 1965 war, saw Fricker's book.

One researcher was Air Commodore (retd.) Pritam Singh who had seen action as a young Gnat pilot. He knew all the pilots in the Mystere formation and began to trace them. He picked up evidence of a Pakistani broadcast accepting the loss of a F-104, talked in detail to Group Captain Taneja (retd.) and pieced together other evidences. The jigsaw fell into place, though the one source from which Air Commodore (retd.) Singh had expected much, disappointed him. He remembered that Flight Lieutenant Hussain, whom Squadron Leader Devayya had shot down was yet again shot down over Amritsar in the 1971 war and was taken prisoner. He ferreted out Flight Lieutenant Hussain's interrogation report but it had no mention of the 1965 dogfight. Air Commodore Singh (retd.) did not give up. In November 1987 he presented the evidence to high command. His effort was to get the IAF to recognise that such a fight did take place.

Squadron Leader Devayya, according to him, was one of those old generation, WW-II type of daring pilots, an unusual sort of character. Unusual he had to be, for he chose to stay back and fight the F-104 even though the raid on Sargodha had stretched his aircraft's fuel reserves to its very limits. He knew that even if he won and survived, he would have to eject within Pakistan. When asked what chance a Mystere had against a F-104 even in ideal conditions, Group Captain Taneja's (retd.) reply was an emphatic, "absolutely nil." By staying back, Devayya saved the remaining Mystere formation from the marauding F-104. Finally, in April 1988, the President of India, R. Venkataraman, conferred the Maha Vir Chakra on Squadron Leader Ajjamada Bopayya Devayya, nearly 23 years after he died in an audacious air attack over Sargodha, Pakistan's most formidable air base. The evidence adds up to a stirring saga of his courage, sacrifice and flying skills. Jai Hind!! Jai Jawan!!

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The CLub was Estb approximately in 1960's Known for Recreation and sport.In 1995 it was taken over by the Young Guns of the Village to Lead the Soccer Village into the Battle SOCCER. The club has won around 20 District matches and 10 Runners Up till date. The Club has around 60 Active Members and all are Soccer Players.